Professional Development Colleagues:

Over the course of the year, members of the AALPD Executive Board developed 
and revised PD Policy Recommendations with shared feedback from the field 
(primarily through this discussion list, the ALE Wiki, the AALPD 
Pre-Conference at COABE (2005), and emails with AALPD members). The goal of 
these PD Policy Recommendations is the adoption of policies at national, state 
and local levels that adequately support the participation of adult basic 
education, adult ESOL, and adult secondary education practitioners (including 
paraprofessionals and learner leaders who are staff members) in professional 
development that will help them be effective teachers, tutors, counselors, and 
administrators.

On November 8th, 97% of voting AALPD members indicated overwhelming support of 
AALPD to promote the PD Policy Recommendations. The final version of the 
policies can be found on the AALPD website by visiting: 
http://www.aalpd.org/advocacy.htm

Following the vote, Lennox McLendon (Executive Director, NAEPDC) and Kathi 
Polis (President, Strategic Training and Resources, Inc.) organized a 
significant portion of the State Directors’ annual meeting to focus on 
building state professional development systems and practices, and the AALPD 
PD Policies were highlighted. Cristine Smith (AALPD Chair) gave a presentation 
of the NCSALL Professional Development Study, which provided a rationale for 
many of the AALPD policies. It was apparent that many states are working 
diligently to provide the best possible professional development for their 
practitioners. Several State Directors and state staff provided examples of 
how they are working towards the recommended AALPD PD Policies. The AALPD 
Policy Recommendations seemed to be well received by state staff, even though 
they know that additional funding is required for most states to fully 
implement these policies.

You should know that


• David Rosen, AALPD member and colleague, played a key role in providing 
support to the AALPD Executive Committee during all stages of policy 
development. David’s insights were invaluable and his talents instrumental in 
helping the field further the development of the PD Policy Recommendations.

• Lennox McLendon and Kathi Polis of NAEPDC gave us valuable assistance and 
support to ensure that State Directors are aware of our PD Policy 
Recommendations and have opportunities to think about what the implementation 
of these policies could and does look like across the states.

On behalf of the AALPD Executive Board, we would like to express our gratitude 
to David Rosen, Lennox McLendon, and Kathi Polis for assisting AALPD to 
develop and disseminate these policies for professional development. They 
deserve a big round of applause from AALPD members and those interested in 
seeing that adult education practitioners have access to high-quality 
professional development.

Thank you to this Professional Development List for your insights and 
continued work in bringing these recommendations to local programs and state 
PD for incorporation into professional development systems. AALPD will now be 
working with others in the field to advocate at all levels for additional 
funding and legislation to support the implementation of these policies across 
the field.

Cristine Smith, Chair
Jackie Taylor, Vice Chair
Association of Adult Literacy Professional Developers